Approaching the completion of my work bench project, I’ve discovered that I have one heck of a clean-up ahead of me. This comes as something of a surprise as I normally work with machines for much of my woodworking, but for this project I have tried to use mostly hand tools. Machines have dust and chip collection attached to them, hand tools don’t.
The problem is also compounded by my tendency toward binge cleaning. By binge cleaning, I mean that I work on a project until its completion or until I can’t stand the clutter or it’s unsafe to work. Then and only then, do I stop work and clean up. If I’m on a roll and making good progress I am loath to interrupt the groove in order to clean up.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a clean shop, and I know that it’s safer and more efficient to keep a clean shop. But if the work beckons me, I cannot help it. After all, I do this work because I enjoy it, and I don’t enjoy cleaning.
When I was a youngster in junior high school, my metal shop teacher (Mr. Gillespie) would call for clean-up ten minutes before the period ended. Anyone who did not stop work was told to plunge their hands into the coal bin up to their elbows. No matter how much you scrubbed, you wore black gauntlets to your next classes for the rest of the day, and everyone knew why. You only needed to do that once to learn to clean up at the end of the work day. I have often wondered if this is perhaps why metal work is not my forte and I clean up when I feel like it.
Are you a binge cleaner or a clean as you go worker?
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"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi
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